Title: Naphta-Cycle
Artist: Francois Poulbot
Year of Publication: 1915
Publisher:
Language: French
Size:
Index Number: 00302

Description:

Naphta-Cycle was a French petroleum company that produced motor fuel in the early twentieth century. As reflected in the poster, the fuel was used in airships, airplanes, motorcars. In contrast with another Naptha-Cycle poster in the collection from 1910 (#00262), which has an industrial, almost severe aesthetic, this 1915 poster depicts an idealized scene: a youthful, well-to-do father flies tandem in the South of France with his doll-like children in a Blériot XI-2. The family rides côte-à-côte, or side-by-side, in the popular sporting model – an adventure fueled by Naphta-Cycle!

Historically, Blériot fame originates from Louis Blériot’s cross-channel flight of July 25, 1909: the flight was the first time a person had successfully crossed the channel by airplane, not balloon. Although it wasn’t the longest flight taken at the time – only 23.6 miles and

lasting just 36.5 minutes – Tom Crouch describes it as “an epic cross channel flight.” As Crouch explains, “Nothing captured the public imagination in England and on the Continent in quite the same fashion.” Notably the 1909 flight was taken in an earlier version of the Blériot type XI than the one pictured in this 1915 poster. Both models, however, shared the signature open box-frame fuselage depicted in this Naphta-Cycle poster. As Crouch describes, “never again could the airplane be viewed simply as a mechanical marvel. In the wake of Blériot’s flight preeminence in aeronautics was to become a matter of national honor—and survival.” Thus, as the Naptha-Cycle poster exemplifies, it would only be a natural fit to feature a superior aircraft for superior petrol.

Using an image of the Blériot XI to market fuel constitutes a strategic statement about quality. The Blériot XI was considered to be the first really successful monoplane. After the aircraft’s dramatic unveiling in France on Christmas Eve 1908, and a short 200-meter “hop” at the Issy air field in January 1909, the Blériot XI and its derivatives continued to dominate “the air-racing and exhibition circuit in the years prior to WW-I.” The popular XI, or “Type Onze,” frequently swept prizes for speed, distance, and altitude at regional competitions throughout France and at international competitions throughout Europe and in New York.

Between 1909 and 1914 Blériot produced over 800 airplanes; the majority of them type XI or XI derivatives. Planes like the one featured in this 1915 poster were purchased for both military and recreational use. By the start of WW-I the XI and its derivatives could be found in various (and opposing) air forces including those of France, Great Britain, Italy, Austria and Russia. Simultaneously, the same planes were flown recreationally in air clubs throughout Europe and across the globe in locations as distant as Saigon and Sebastopol.